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Helmet mask, Mi Babakumbu, 19th–early 20th century
Wood, pigment
70.5 cm (27 3/4 in.)

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "Walter Randel Collection, New York." (Catalog #297, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 131.) PUBLICATIONS: 2005 - "Photographed in an Anlilip cult house by Paul and Dadi Wirz in 1953 but not collected. "It was too heavy for us, " Dadi told me. This mask was probably used in the ngwalndu maira ceremonies, associated with the highest stages of initiation and involving representations of the spirits of major clan ancestors. It may have decorated an enormous yam (mambutap), but was more likely to have been worn by a masquerader. The holes at the lower edge hint at the attachment of a skirt of sago leaf fibers as worn by masqueraders. The conical extension at the top may have served as the attachment of a feather headdress. The mask appears to "wear" a diadem-shaped fiber and dog's teeth head ornament (wasa-nimbi) as worn by important men. Wooden Abelam masks are very rare and thier function is not well understood in contrast to the more familiar wickerwork masks. Apart from a function in ceremonial dances, the mask may have been displayed in one of the huts beside the spirit house used for ceremonial purposes or temporarily placed in the ceremonial ground (amei) in front of the spirit house for the purpose of yam magic. Three published examples of wooden masks appear to be versions of the wickerwork baba, which is believed to be the original form (see Koch, 1968: 43, figs. 13, 66; Lawes, 1976, fig. 2; and Maaz, 1989: 44; cf. Hauser-Schäublin, 1989, fig. 94). This mask, and the next, are quite different and are probably not based on an earlier wickerwork model." (Catalog #297, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 131.)

Related Keywords
Babakumbu Mi mask Helmet 131 p 2 Volume 2005 Friede John Marcia Jolika Masterpieces Art 297 Catalog York Randel Walter people Abelam village Anlilip Oceania Province Sepik East Guinea New Papua Melanesia Object Ritual pigment Wood 0308200711540037 A383326 AOA